


and an unintended and unforeseen consequence

by violetinfidel



Series: drabbles [10]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: its a very grudging alliance on both sides, shadow realizes he has no clue how to survive in hyrule so hes like, shit. well. time to team up with them, this is the sequel to the other one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetinfidel/pseuds/violetinfidel





	and an unintended and unforeseen consequence

The thing about hylians is that, despite their blatant stupidity, they know how to survive in Hyrule.

Shadow can’t say the same.

Everything’s different here; the plants, the animals, the weather, the time, the people. He curses Vio, and his stupid sacred bow. He hardly lasted the first day out on his own, and this is his fifth, and he doesn’t think that he’ll be around much longer if this trend keeps up.

Breaking the mirror was, perhaps, not his best idea, he thinks, but hindsight is 20/20. Of course, hindsight isn’t really enough to get him back home. And it isn’t home, per se, or doesn’t feel like one, but it’s where he lives, and is without a doubt preferable to  _this_  place. He thinks. He can concede that Hyrule has its merits. He’s a fair guy.

It still does nothing to help his current situation. He’s camped out in the Lost Woods, deep in the forest, because it’s safe. For him, at least. It’s the closest he has to where he lives, anyway; the dark magic is much stronger here, and there’s hardly any light most of the day, and while the creatures are largely hostile they know better than to mess with  _him_. They do, however, mess with other people that try to enter, and generally make the place very discouraging to exactly the kind of people he wants out. The problem with this is that it also drives away exactly the kind of things he needs to, oh, he doesn’t know,  _eat_.

He has options to weigh. There’s always the option of staying where he is, and starving to death. Unfortunately he isn’t typically very keen on that sort of thing. Or he could let himself die, and maybe that would bring him back to the Dark World, but there really are no guarantees, and he’s not sure he can stand being trapped there, and he doesn’t think anyone would be particularly happy to see him anyway. Ruling these out leaves a set of marginally more unfavorable options, or at least they are to him. He can find someplace else in Hyrule to stay, but that means giving up his safety and potentially giving up his magic- maybe not entirely, but significantly, and he’s kind of counting on it. He could disguise himself as an ordinary person, and try to build a life among them, but he’s not sure he can pull that off (or at least convincingly), and it’s terribly boring besides.

And, perhaps his least favorite among them, he could go and have a chat with the princess and see whether he could take a place among the heroes. He doesn’t expect that to go over well, or in fact at all- he rather expects to be killed on sight. Which isn’t so much of an issue, because he can discorporate before he’s actually injured, but it’s a discouraging thought nonetheless. He doesn’t look forward to facing that bow again. And there’s so many other problems: he knows he isn’t going to be accepted, and he knows approximately nothing about being a “hero” or whatever it is they do, and he hates most of them and most of them hate him, and also he just doesn’t want to, to name a few. He’s trying to dissuade himself, but the problem is that he’s a little more rational than he’d like, ideally, and he knows that that’s the only thing that’s really going to give him a shot.

And, being a fair and rational guy, he reluctantly settles for that, with a promise to himself that if things go south he’s gone.

Which leaves the issue of  _how_. He can do what he’d done the last time, but he feels that won’t inspire any feelings of sincerity and generosity and other things that will serve to keep him alive. He could also knock out all of the guards and confront her when she’s well and truly alone, and have her accept his terms under penalty of death, but that may be a little overkill and, dare he say, “wrong”.

So, he decides, he will do it the “right” and “good” and “morally acceptable” way, and offer himself to their useless little measures, and go to see her in whatever shackles they see fit, demeaning as it may be. There’s always discorporating through the chains, he figures.

And that’s why he shows up in Castle Town in broad daylight (well, it’s only dawn). The people that recognize him shout and trip over themselves in their hurry to flee, which Shadow finds rude and frankly unnecessary. He isn’t  _doing_  anything. The ones that don’t take the cue from their friends and neighbors and leave in a rush, though they make less of a scene about the whole affair, which he appreciates.

And the morning guards sure recognize him; he in fact knows one, and has spoken to him at length before.

“Halt!” He says, and has a spear at his throat in the time it takes to say that word. “We are under orders to kill you, Shadow Link.”

“Valensuela, please,” Shadow says, and he likes to think that his voice is positively  _dripping_ in sincerity and kindness and diplomacy. “All I want is to speak with the princess. She does audiences, doesn’t she?”

“An audience like the one you had with her a few days ago? I don’t think so.” He moves to twist the spear into Shadow’s throat, to find that he’s not actually solid.

Shadow shrugs, takes a generous step to the side and, to appear less unnerving, solidifies. “Listen, Valensuela, this is a gesture of respect. I could just go right in and you couldn’t do a thing to stop me. I’m doing you the favor of letting you take me in the way normal people are supposed to.”

“Respect,” The other guard spits, and tries to skewer him. Again he gets only air, and again Shadow has to sigh.

“We’ve been through this,” He says, with an air of disappointment and mild exasperation, “You couldn’t lay a finger on me if I didn’t want you to. This is me playing fair. Do you want me to play dirty? I can knock out every single one of you and walk right in again.”

 “ _Fair_?” The second guard scoffs, but Valensuela raises a hand, tells him to hold, and Shadow once again appreciates the value of having people in high places.

 “We’ll play on his terms,” Valensuela says, hesitantly.

 “Well, of course you will. You don’t have much of a choice.”

 “Sir, we don’t have any cuffs or bindings.”

 “We have no need of them. If he can slip a spear he can slip those as well.”

A man of sense, finally, Shadow thinks, and gestures for them to lead. The other guard grabs him by the arm none too gently, which Shadow very graciously allows, with a very kind and very sharp reminder to watch his grip.

As they pass through the inner grounds, he can see the astonishment and fear and resentment on the faces of those who know him, and he smiles and waves at them. If he gets his way- and he’d better- they’ll be having to work alongside him soon. Better to start off on the right foot.

 “What are you  _doing_ ,” One guarding the throne room door hisses, but Valensuela shakes his head.

 “Is the princess in?”

 “Give us a moment to fetch her, she’s taken a break.”

And one slips inside and closes the door behind him, and it makes the situation just a tad awkward.

 “I know she’s in there,” He says, flippant- he doesn’t want to sound accusing. “He’s running to get the Links.”

The other sputters, evidently ill-equipped to think on his feet, trying to come up with an excuse.

He just waves a hand, dismissive. “Oh, it’s fine. I figured you would. I’m even willing to let you. I’m a very fair person, you see. If having her little honor guard makes her more comfortable then, well, by all means.”

Valensuela stares at him, implacable. “I feel I must ask what happens when you don’t get your way.”

 “ _When_  I don’t get my way? Well, that’s a little cynical, don’t you think? I consider myself more of an optimist. I think I’d prefer  _if_.”

He looks irritated but seems to know to pick his battles, which Shadow respects in a person. “If.”

 “Well, then I guess I’ll just have to burn this whole place to the ground, won’t I?”

The look of abject terror on their faces is too good not to laugh at- so he does, and very obnoxiously. “Oh, don’t look so scared, that was only a joke! I had a dragon last time. I don’t now. The most I’d do is pick off a few people.”

They still look mortified, but he elects to leave that one open-ended. He wants to play fair, but using fear to manipulate is fair, right? If they don’t want him to do it then maybe they shouldn’t take everything so seriously.

The door opens again, and they’re ushered in, and everything just seems so solemn that he has to wonder whether something’s happened. The five of them are up there on the dias, Zelda on her throne and the others around her.

 “See? He was going to get them, I called it. Anyway,” He says, and shoulders the guard off him, “I won’t be needing you two anymore, so you can just run along.”

They don’t, though, and he sighs. “Well, suit yourselves. Can’t make a cake without breaking a few eggs, or at least I think that’s how that goes.”

He thinks perhaps that came across the wrong way; they become more guarded, on edge. He’d only meant that there’d be a few more people to witness what he feels is a very pathetic event, but he does suppose he should have expected it.

As he approaches he keeps a very close eye on Vio and that bow of his. That’s the only real threat to him in this room, and he really can’t afford to get shot. But he doesn’t draw the bow yet, which seems to Shadow a very generous thing to do, and as much as he resents Vio he does have to be grateful for that.

 “What, no greeting?” He asks, when he’s at the foot of the stairs that lead up to them. It’s supposed to be a respect thing or something, and while he has very little respect for them, it’s a necessary measure. “I even played by your rules.”

 “You should not feel it necessary to receive a commendation for adhering to the bare minimum,” Vio says, which sounds like an ill omen, and when it comes to  _that one_  Shadow can’t resist being a little snippy back.

 “Well, lucky for you I wasn’t asking for a commendation, just a simple hello would’ve done, thanks. Regardless,” He says, after a brief pause, back to his sweet apologetic diplomacy voice, “I’ve come because I’d like to discuss terms with you.”

 “While I appreciate the gesture, our terms were beyond clear last time,” Zelda tells him, in that very same voice, and Shadow thinks that if circumstances had been different they would have made very good friends. “If you returned you would be killed. And you’ve returned. Which makes the following proceedings very simple, I think.”

 “But you haven’t even listened to me.”

 “And clearly you didn’t listen to us.”

Shadow nods, thoughtfully. “Well, that’s only partially correct. I listened. I didn’t follow. Which brings me to my offer.”

 “You’re in no position to be making offers,” Blue snaps.

 “Blue, kindly shut up. I’m speaking to Zelda, not you, or really anyone else, actually. Which goes especially for you, Vio, because as I’m sure you know I don’t particularly like you.”

 “You will be relieved to know the feeling is mutual.”

Shadow, very graciously, allows him that one. But if he keeps getting interrupted he’s going to have to force his hand. “If I could finish my sentences,” He says, as passive-aggressively as he can manage without being flat-out rude, “See, I’ve come to realize that it’s very difficult for me to survive in Hyrule alone.”

 “Then don’t,” Red suggests, scowling.

 “You’ve practically read my mind! I got to thinking- and it took a whole lot of that, mind you- that maybe it’d be in both our best interests to make an alliance of sorts.”

Blue goes immediately to reject that, and he can hear the muttered complains of the few guards lingering behind, but when it comes down to it he really only needs the princess to agree. Friends though they are, they’re still her subjects, and if she gives an order then they’ll have to follow it, like it or not.

 “Explain,” She says, curtly.

He’s got her hooked- wonderful. “Well, seeing as how-”

 “None of the fluff, Shadow Link. Keep it concise. What is it that you’re suggesting?”

 “I’ve already said. An alliance. I am of course only one person, but if you’re ever going to really make a dent in reparations you’re going to need me, and to put it frankly I’m in no way prepared to make it in Hyrule by myself.”

She chews on that for a long moment, and he watches as the other four offer their two cents, which Shadow would really rather be without, although he knows it’s going to be a big part of her decision.

 “I’m tempted,” She says finally, which in and of itself is a victory, “But I’m very curious and a little concerned with regards to your motives.”

 “Oh, it’s very simple. It’s in the interest of mutual survival. More mine than yours, if I’m being honest, but I think we can agree that no one ever really has the other person’s best interests in total priority.”

 “You do understand the implications of joining in service to Hyrule.”

 “Well, of course, I’m no idiot. No such thing as a free lunch and all that. I could make a résumé if that’s the sort of thing you’re into. I’m very good at breaking things.”

That almost gets something out of Zelda that he’s proud to think may be a smile- regardless of his talents, he can fall back on his winning personality.

 “I’ll have to give this thought,” She tells him, and it sounds half a warning. “The decision is not mine alone.”

 “It’s only fair,” He agrees, amicably, and thinks that if he continues with this friendly agreeable persona then he could have a whole lot of people wrapped around his finger. “But that still leaves the issue of where I’m going to be until then.”

 “I can offer you quarters, but you’ll be under surveillance.”

 “Naturally.”

 “You won’t be permitted to leave them until we’ve reached a decision. Which may very well be your execution.”

 “I didn’t come here without understanding the risks, princess.”

 “Very well,” She sighs, and beckons Valensuela up. “Please take him to the empty chambers in the west wing, north side. The four of you come with me.” She leaves then, and Shadow can’t help his feeling of triumph. He’d very much expected to die.

Valensuela doesn’t bother with the spear, or with even trying to drag him along like that other one. Just a terse ‘come’ as he starts walking. They’re halfway down a practically empty hall when he says, a little apprehensively, “No funny business.”

“No funny business,” He agrees, with such a friendly smile that it couldn’t possibly be false. Really, when will they stop expecting him to keep his word?


End file.
